The new monarch of Granada, Abu-l-Walid Ismail, was a fighter and a fanatic. He was fond of saying that he believed only in God and his good sword. His faith in the latter weapon was justified. He annihilated a Spanish army which had approached Granada, among the slain being the Infantes, Don Juan and Don Pedro; and carrying his victorious arms eastwards, wrested Baza and Martos from the enemies of his race. But others also reposed their faith in the sword. Like another Agamemnon, he appropriated a beautiful captive, the prize of the young Mohammed of Algeciras. Three days after his triumphal entry into his capital he fell at the gates of the Alhambra, a victim to the poniard of the man he had injured. Perceiving his sovereign to be at the point of death and resolving to avert the horrors of a disputed succession, the Wizir summoned the chief men of Granada to the palace, and announced that Abu-l-Walid was recovering from his wounds. The royal order was that all present should take the oath to the boy-prince, Muley Mohammed Ben Ismail, as successor to the kingdom. When this command had been obeyed, the wily Wizir announced the death of Abu-l-Walid and the accession of Mohammed IV. This was in the year 1325. When he had freed himself from the control of an unpopular regent, the young Sultan displayed qualities of heart and mind in no way inferior to those of his progenitors. It must be admitted that Arab historians have been somewhat too partial to this line of kings, for there is hardly one who is not described more or less explicitly as a paragon of all the virtues. Mohammed IV. had to fight hard to hold his own against the Spaniards on one side and the Africans on the other. He took Gibraltar, and lost it again to Abu-l-Hasan of Fez. But the African king was soon after obliged to ask his help to hold the fortress against the Christians. Mohammed generously responded to the appeal, fell like a thunderbolt upon the Spanish camp, and raised the siege. He was ill repaid. In August 1333, he was imprudent enough to reproach his African allies with their inability to hold the fortress; and a day or two later, having sent his army home, made an excursion to the summit of the Rock. He was followed by some among those he had reproached, and quickly despatched by their poniards. His body, naked and mangled, was found at the foot of the Rock, and conveyed to Malaga. No attempt seems to have been made to identify or to punish his murderers.